A COUPLE told yesterday of six years of hell as their &#xA3;100,000 dream home crumbled around them - one of 11 homes which "fell apart" on a new estate.

Claire and Russell Murlis, both 29, moved onto the new estate to begin married life and start a family there.

But they have been forced to leave the three-bedroom semi as it began to crack up - and they are they are worried that it isn't safe for their toddler son.

And now the developer Wimpey has bought back their home and 10 others, blaming a "design fault" for the faulty foundations.

Claire, who is six months pregnant with the couple's second child, said, "It was our first home, something you remember forever.

"But it has given us nothing but 365-days-a-year anxiety."

Claire and Russell say Wimpey gave them years of excuses and offers to fill the 4ft-long cracks with Polyfilla at the Pengam Green estate in Cardiff.

The crumbling house ruined the couple's wedding plans, forced them to cancel their honeymoon and overshadowed the birth of first son Jack, now two.

Site engineers dismissed the problem as settlement cracks and offered to fill them with Polyfilla.

The couple paid &#xA3;600 for their own surveyor - who told them the house could fall down.

A further probe eventually revealed the foundations weren't strong enough to support the house.

Marketing executive Claire said, "The whole thing has been a disgrace.

"We waited years for Wimpey to offer us a solution and never even decorated the house because we were always sure they would move us out any minute."

But a builder friend found cracks in a back wall in the De Havelland Road home just months after they bought it in 1997 and advised the couple it shouldn't happen in a brand new property.

Claire said, "An engineer told us some Polyfilla would fix it. I said that would be like sticking a Band-aid.

"It got to a point where I just didn't want to sleep there any-more and put our baby in the box room as his nursery because it was the only room that didn't have massive cracks in it.

After five years of discussions, Wimpey offered to buy the 11 affected houses back.

Claire said, "We moved out of the house last month and are now technically homeless and living with my mum."

A Wimpey spokeswoman said, "This problem has been isolated in 11 properties which we do not consider dangerous or at risk of collapse. We repurchased all the affected properties and their owners have been fully compensated."

Their ordeal is featured in Wednesday evening's edition of the BBC1 show UK's Worst New House?